https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjOsqFJl3ys
Shortly after winning Single of the Year for "God's Country," country star Blake Shelton took the 53rd annual CMA Awards stage in Nashville for a fiery performance of the Devin Dawson, Jordan Schmidt and Hardy co-write.
Shelton wowed the awards show crowd with a straightforward take on one of the year's best radio hits. Among the players onstage was Jenee Fleenor, the first woman nominee and winner of the Country Music Association's longstanding Musician of the Year prize. Fleenor's award, along with Musical Event of the Year and Music Video of the Year, was announced before the main broadcast aired on ABC. Fortunately, Fleenor made the most of her limited screen time during a white-hot fiddle solo that set the performance of Shelton's former Billboard chart-topper apart on a night highlighted by Luke Combs, Keith Urban, Kelsea Ballerini, Eric Church and Willie Nelson and Kacey Musgraves' less-is-more approaches. A post-apocalyptic farm setting that caught fire by song's end was a nice touch, too.
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Shelton returned to the stage later in the night to perform "Dive Bar" with fellow Oklahoma native and 2019 CMA Entertainer of the Year Garth Brooks.
"God's Country" appears alongside the Trace Adkins duet "Hell Right" and other new songs on The Voice co-star's upcoming album Fully Loaded: God's Country, out Dec. 13.
The CMA Awards aired Wednesday night (Nov. 13). The celebration of women in country music's past, present and future was co-hosted by superstar performers Carrie Underwood, Reba McEntire and Dolly Parton.
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